May 19, 2008

Revolution in Generosity

Issue No. 89 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a very important hot-off-the-press book on how to create a revolution in generous giving in your church or organization. Martin Luther said, "People go through three conversions: The conversion of their head, their heart and their pocketbook. Unfortunately, not all at the same time." Delegate your reading to your team members (2-3 chapters each) and ask for mini-reviews at future staff meetings. And this reminder: to review the books I’ve recommended in back issues, visit the archives here. Plus, check out my new Management Buckets website with dozens of new resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.

Transactional Donors or Transformational Stewards?

In Peggy Noonan’s recent Wall Street Journal column, she excoriates the current Republican leaders (she worked in the Reagan White House), with this insight, “…they speak that language [the language of marketing] because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership.”

Today, the state of Christian fundraising and giving has similar sins. Fundraisers and pastors often focus on the money-raising transaction—not the giver’s spiritual transformation into a genuinely generous giver (as Christ demonstrates generosity). Much of fundraising today is about marketing because leaders have neglected the big biblical idea: transforming stewards to be rich toward God.

Willmer writes, “A basic premise of this book is that believers are on the wrong road when it comes to giving and are therefore not generous.” He describes the biblical way, the transformational way, to biblical generosity. He’s supported by 20 articulate experts, including R. Scott Rodin, Dick Towner, Howard Dayton, Brian Kluth, Lauren Libby, Todd Harper, Rebekah Basinger, John Frank, Ron Blue, Paul D. Nelson, Daryl Heald and others.

Daryl Heald, president of Generous Giving, describes a bold step by a member of his accountability small group who played “the money card”—the one area in which no one wanted to be held accountable. One morning, one of the guys put his net worth and giving records on the breakfast table with his small group. “That was the beginning of true transparency,” said Heald.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:1. Describe our organization’s fundraising strategy (or your personal giving history). Is it transactional or transformational? Are we transforming stewards (donors) to be rich toward God?2. Dick Towner quotes Ben Patterson who said, “There is no such thing as being right with God and wrong with your money.” Do you agree? Why?

Bucket #18 of 20: The Systems Bucket - Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

Over a 20-week period, I’m featuring one of the 20 buckets (core competencies) each week from my new book, Mastering the Management Buckets (now available). Here’s the core competency in Bucket #18, The Systems Bucket:

“We are passionate about systems thinking and process management. We encourage systems people to use their gifts and mentor others for the benefit of our Cause and our Community arenas. We are careful not to tinker or over-tweak, yet we are tenacious about tickler systems. We have a heart to create systems that serve people, not the bureaucracy!”

The "D.W.M.Q.A.T. Form" for Repeatable Tasks! One of the balls in the Systems Bucket is “train your team in tickler tracking.” It’s very simple to track your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual repeating tasks.

Payroll is one of those repeating tasks that must be flawless. The same devotion to details that you require for on-time paychecks can also be routine throughout your organization. Creating a systematic process for repeating tasks is part of systems thinking.

Tracking systems run the gamut from sophisticated software to Post-It notes on the wall. Start by listing your repeating tasks on a spreadsheet so that you can sort by deadline date, point person, department, task, and so forth. Create at least five major sections: “Daily Tasks,” “Weekly Tasks” (by day of week), “Monthly Tasks” (by day of month), “Quarterly Tasks” (by date) and Annual Tasks (by date).

Your systems thinkers already have binders, tabs and tracking systems, but you might suggest this system for your less organized team members (see Ball #6 in the Operations Bucket): 1) Ask each team member to assemble a binder titled “My Operations Binder.” (You may want an acronym other than M.O.B., but your graphics guy will love it.) 2) Each person then designates tabs for their personalized “Daily,” “Weekly,” “Monthly,” “Quarterly” and “Annual Tracker,” otherwise known as the DWMQAT. (I love easy-to-remember acronyms, don’t you?) 3) When “repeating assignments” are made in staff meetings or one-on-one meetings, they can be immediately listed on the DWMQAT.

Let’s say that a team member is hospitalized or a family member dies or is ill. If that person is in charge of payroll, you likely have a Plan B. But what about the zillions of other details that few others know about? When a team member is absent or on vacation, the DWMQAT system kicks in and it’s all there in black and white for another person to handle. Similarly, when a team member is promoted, the DWMQAT is an excellent training tool for their replacement. Train your team in tracking, and cast the vision for both the short-term and long-term benefits. Go to the Systems Bucket on my website and download Worksheet #18.1, The "D.W.M.Q.A.T. Form" for Repeatable Tasks.